


And Breaks in the Morning Light

by missmichellebelle



Series: Like the Stars Chase the Sun [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Childhood Friends, Elf Levi, Elf/Human Relationship(s), Elves, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 06:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6505573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmichellebelle/pseuds/missmichellebelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“As a child, I always dreamed it would be you and me, seeing all the places you used to tell me stories about. Places like this.” That story echoes in his head now, a distant memory, and it’s so strange to know that he’s living it, now. “And we would be happy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Breaks in the Morning Light

**Author's Note:**

> welp. it's a verse now. >_>;
> 
>  **Brambles** prompted me for the dialogue thing on tumblr, "You look exhausted."
> 
> (and then I named a horse after her. aren't I sweet? xD)

Eren spent the entirety of his young life dreaming about seeing the world. His village had very little documentation on what lay beyond the kingdom’s borders, but Eren took information wherever he could find it. From his school teachers, or passing travelers, or the eccentric merchants that pitched tents three times along the main road. He even, on a few occasions, asked his father. But the richest of resources, by far, came from the elves, who of course traveled from beyond the realms of Eren’s own homeland. They told him stories around their magical blue fires, and painted images of places and things and peoples that Eren could hardly fathom.

Those days have long since faded, but Eren remembers them in times such as these. When he’s bathed in the light of a similar fire, surrounded by things that were once just images inside his own imagination.

The Invisible Trees. There’s a word for the forest in the elven language, something Levi had whispered as the tree line had come into view on the horizon with a kind of reverence that all elves have for nature and life. Although the sight of it had certainly made Eren feel as if he was looking upon something holy.

 _Svri’lesh-ï-n tro_. Or something like that. Levi had said that, very roughly, it meant, “life’s quiet gathering place.” Elves are strange like that. Their names never seem to have to do with what the places actually _are_. The words _forest_  or _river_  or _mountain_  never seem to appear, and Levi had looked at him flatly and wondered why he must say the word mountain if it is known he is speaking of a mountain. Should he, perhaps, refer to Eren as _Eren the human_  to appease his need for redundancy?

Eren hadn’t had a response for that.

As a child, he’d imagined that a forest of invisible trees would be rather boring to look at. After all, if they’re _invisible_ , there would be nothing for him to see. In reality, the trees (and the leaves, flowers, and fruit they bear) are as clear as blown glass but every bit as living as the sturdy oaks Eren climbed as a child. Riding up on the forest at sunset, the trees had thrown light in every direction, a beautiful, brilliant fire of color that had turned even more beautiful once the sun had set. At night, the never ending veins of water winding through the leaves and the trunk has a very faint, very beautiful, blue-green glow. Like thousands of very small fireflies, all strung together on the thinest of threads, and wound in intricate patterns all around them.

Between that and the soft blue flicker of Levi’s magic fire, their modest camp is bathed in such an array of colors that Eren feels very much like he could be underwater.

As the moon pulls higher and higher into the sky, Eren tears his eyes away from the entrancing lights and forces himself to standing. They’ve been riding since dawn, and his body is heavy with exhaustion, but he knows he’d prefer to stay up later and sleep until they’re on their way once more.

“I’ll take first watch,” he declares, ambling towards his horse to fetch his bow. The beautiful chestnut mare was a gift from his village, given to him with the name of Brambles already christened upon it. It was a bit of a silly name, but Eren found he liked it. “You look exhausted,” he hums to the horse, running a hand down her snout and getting a gentle nudge in return.

“So do you.”

Eren isn’t expecting Levi’s voice. He rarely does, in fact. Levi is possibly the most silent travel companion in the entire realm. Nights are especially quiet between them.

“It’s fine.” Eren waves his hand dismissively. “It’s better for me to take first watch, and then I can sleep straight through until when we leave.”

“We don’t have to take watch here.” Levi says it with so much certainty that it draws Eren up short in surprise. Levi is the definition of caution. Levi is the reason they even take turns keeping watch. It’s not exactly like they’re fugitives, or that there’s any reason for them to believe someone or something is after them. But Levi has eyed the world around them warily since this all began, like he’s waiting for a dark shadow to finally come up with them. “This place is...” his eyebrows pinch together, lips pushed together in frustration, and it occurs to Eren that Levi is struggling to find a word.

He speaks English so seamlessly now that Eren often forgets that Levi didn’t know a word of it when they first met.

“Holy,” Levi finally settles on, although Eren can tell by the look of distaste on his face that the word doesn’t sit quite right on his tongue. He mutters something in elvish beneath his breath, and then says, “We’re safe here. So sleep.”

And he leaves it at that. Eren traces his movements back towards the fire, where he settles against one of the trees and starts to remove items from his pack. It’s kind of a nightly ritual, actually. Eren has spent many nights, around fires such as these, watching as Levi sharpens his blades against the strange, porous, ink-black rock he carries with him.

He hesitates for a moment, and wonders when Levi’s strange paranoia caught up with him. If Levi says they’re safe, then they’re safe. Not once since they’ve left Shiganshina has Eren felt any sort of unease when they’ve made camp for the night. He’s never had that tossing feeling in the pit of his stomach, like something bad is about to happen, or the prickle on his skin like maybe he’s being watched. So there’s no reason for him to resist Levi’s words.

 _We’re safe here_.

Eren makes to deposit his bow and quiver back into their places on Brambles’ saddle, and pauses only long enough to observe Levi where he sits. If his words were not assurance enough, the fluid ease with which he sharpens his knives would be telling enough. Of course, Levi is an elf, and this ritual is always graceful and entrancing to watch, but the tension is gone from the line of his shoulders, his face relaxed as if he’s not concentrating so hard on the world around him. He looks... At peace. Here, in this strange, magical woodland.

It makes Eren never want to leave.

Levi’s eyes flash up to meet his suddenly, and Eren turns hastily to finish what he started, fingers fumbling with buckles as his neck grows warm. There is the natural, nervous anticipation coiled in his chest, making his actions jerky as he gives his horse a firm pat goodnight and walks with locked joints to his bedroll by the fire.

Which is very close to where Levi is seated.

Levi watches him, but doesn’t say a word, eyes flicking away as Eren removes the outermost layers of his traveling clothes—the bulky things that make sleeping not only uncomfortable, but sometimes absolutely impossible. With their weight gone, Eren knows it won’t be long before sleep settles heavily over him.

When he lays down upon the ground, he can just see Levi, through the blue of the flames and the waves of heat blurring the air above it. He can see silver, and knows that Levi is watching him.

“I always imagined it would be like this,” Eren murmurs into the quiet night air. The soft, lulling sound of mithril against stone pauses for just a moment.

When the silence doesn’t pose the question enough on its own, Levi prompts a quiet, “What?”

“Traveling with you.” Eren closes his eyes and smiles. “As a child, I always dreamed it would be you and me, seeing all the places you used to tell me stories about. Places like this.” That story echoes in his head now, a distant memory, and it’s so strange to know that he’s living it, now. “And we would be happy.”

And Eren feels like maybe he is. That the only thing that’s not right is how Levi feels much further than an arm’s length away from him.

“Can we stay here forever?”

In the morning, when the rising sun brings the trees to life in beautiful shades of gold and pale green, Eren will remember the feel of Levi’s long, soft fingers brushing over his forehead and through his hair, and dismiss it as the beautiful dream it must have been.

**Author's Note:**

> [read, reblog, & like on tumblr](http://missmichellebelle.tumblr.com/post/142531438940/ereri-and-9-pretty-please-d)


End file.
